*** MX-5 Miata Of the Month ***

November/December 2008

Mark Madrid with Monty... Or is it Kermit?

 

Congratulations to Mark Madrid on the selection of his Miata as the MCP's Miata of the Month for November/December 2008.

Gas?... What Gas?



Not too long ago I resigned from my job and returned the company car. I was set to continue my private architectural design practice. My other two vehicles, a Subbie and a Bimmer are quite thirsty on gas so I was in need of a small, dependable, and fuel efficient car that I could use daily to bring me to job sites around town. I was selling my trusty Rav4 and the money from the sale would be all I could spend. The default choice would have been a used Honda Jazz or other similar Japanese or Korean variants but none of them had the style I was looking for. I believe a car does show one’s sense of style, and in my work that’s very important.

I actually considered a classic Mini. But after talking to Mini owners, I realized that an old British car might not be a right choice. It may have loads of style and may well be a fuel miser, but dependable it isn’t. The Miata, on the other hand, was Japanese. But it only had two seats . . . I didn’t care. If I needed to bring more than one passenger then I’d just bring the other car. It only had a 1600cc engine so it should be economical. . . right?

I searched for a Miata for almost two months, scouring buy and sell ads as well as the Sunday classifieds. I may be mechanically inclined but I didn’t know squat about Miatas so I enlisted the help of Berns, my mechanic friend familiar with Miatas, to look at possible candidates. I saw no less than six Miata’s before settling on the Montego Blue ’98 you see here.

The day I first saw it, the car had “bling” rims and tacky attachments. I asked the salesman to remove the wheels in exchange for more tawad and promised to return the rims after a week. We closed the deal and I couldn’t wait to get home and start removing all the junk. On the way home, I called my friend Brian to stake claim over his Watanabe rims (which, by the way, came from JoeyB). He delivered them to my house and even helped install them on my car.

I’m no stranger to engine mods, my Bimmer got her turbo recently. But I intend to keep this 98’s engine stock. I remember a good friend telling me that the best times he had with his Miata was when it was stock. Once the mods came in, so did the headaches. So since this will be my daily drive, best to keep it stock. Ok ok, intake and exhaust lang. Hmmm. . . .

DAMN THIS EATS GAS!!! and that’s with a stock engine!!! And it rattles more than other cars I’ve owned. It handles great but the suspension is too stiff. Later I found out the Mazdaspeed struts up front were set to full hard. I put them to the softest setting and it became a lot more bearable. After more wheel time. . . it kinda grew on me. I love the pop-up lights. I sometimes leave them up and when I’m about to pass someone, I make it go down and up again. It never fails to make people smile.

This is my first convertible so I was excited to try it with the top down. My wife and I drove around the village, mukha lang kaming sira kasi gabi kami namasyal. Won’t do that again, anyway I’m sure there would be a lot more times in the future when open-air motoring would be more appropriate. My wife loves the car and even came up with a name for it. . . “Monty.” I would have preferred “Kermit,” but for the sake of marital peace, “Monty” it is.

I’ve been a member of the BMW E30 Car Club of the Philippines for the past six years and being with people who are as enthusiastic as I am about cars is just so much fun. Joining the Miata Club presents even more excitement. After the first meeting I attended, I was pleased with the enthusiasm and banter of the club members. Few members are old friends of mine, but most are new. Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

Now, I don&rsquot care about the gas.



Mark Madrid

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